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Secondary education

Moving from English to Scottish school question

10 replies

FlyMeToDunoon · 28/01/2010 21:27

Hello my eldest daughter is 10 and will be 11 in June. She is due to start at secondary in September.
However we are thinking of moving to Scotland and I would like to find out if she will just continue into the first year of secondary there, have a year more in primary or would she in fact be supposed to be going into her second year at secondary.

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weegiemum · 28/01/2010 21:32

If she's not 11 till June, she won't be able to go to secondary school in Scotland. The Scottish system works roughly by calendar years. SHe would have started school at 5y2m in Scotland, the August after her 5th birthday. So wouldn't be due to start secondary until the August after her 12th.

You could ask - but I don't think you'd get very far - we're very protective of our education system! We have friends who moved England - Scotland just before she thought her son, born in April, was due to start school and he didn't get to start for a year.

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weegiemum · 28/01/2010 21:34

BTW - from your name, are you planning to move to Dunoon? My dh works there!

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AMumInScotland · 28/01/2010 21:36

What weegiemum says is right - but do remember that the last year of primary school up here is Primary 7 - like Year 7, and she would still have this year, then 2 more at secondary school before she picks subjects for her first set of exams. So it won't be "different" from the year she'd be in England, just that the equivalent of year 7 up here is still in primary school, not secondary.

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FlyMeToDunoon · 28/01/2010 21:38

Oh thanks. Frankly I would quite like her to have another year at primary as she lacks confidence.
How she felt is another matter of course.
No not Dunoon, Edinburgh I hope if the finances allow. FlyMe to is just an old pun my mother used to come out with. I have been there, once though when I was 8 or 9. I don't remember a thing about it.

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weegiemum · 28/01/2010 21:40

there's not much to remember - why do you think dh works there but we live in Glasgow!?

Edinburgh is fab - I lived there for 7 years (Uni and beyond) though never with kids. Hope it works out for you!

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FlyMeToDunoon · 28/01/2010 21:43

thanks.
I lived in Glasgow for a year or two when young. Actually we lived all over but my roots are in Edinburgh [along with mother, brother and old best friends]

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StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 28/01/2010 22:33

We did something very similar, flymetodunoon. Ds3 was in Year 6 when we moved up to near Glasgow, and went into Primary 6 at our local primary school, continued into Primary 7, and finally went up to senior school last August.

We are enjoying living near Glasgow, though when I told some scottish friends that we were moving up, and asked which places near Glasgow were nice to live in, I was told Edinburgh! Sadly we couldn't afford to live over there, and the transport links wouldn't have worked for dh, so we now live near Paisley.

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FlyMeToDunoon · 29/01/2010 10:56

Well our other, cheaper option is Fife and commute. However the childcare from my family would be more difficult and that would impact our finances in other ways.
We may rent in Edinburgh for a while [if we go] and see how we get on.

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iggi999 · 02/02/2010 20:38

Hullo, I teach in Ed so may have your DS one day! Next year a new version of the curriculum will be introduced across Scotland, secondary schools will be starting this in S1. I would be tempted myself to start the next again year at secondary, once it has had the chance to "bed down" a bit - though I don't think it's a major factor, so don't worry if you start in August.

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jojonic · 11/03/2010 16:10

Just to throw in my tuppence worth!

Fife is lovely, well the bit we've moved to is. We moved from SW England to the East Neuk of Fife in Sept and love it! Long commute to Ed though.

My son is 3 (4 in July) and in england would be starting full time school in Sept, but here has another year of half days... I think over time the education system is a lot better here, but a bit annoying we still have to pay for half time childcare for another year

Good luck with it all!

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